Pets Information

Goldfish Feeding Tips


What's the best food for your Goldfish?

Goldfish need food that is a combination of carbohydrates and vitamins to help them grow and fight disease. They particularly need vitamin A to make their colors look bright. They do need protein but just about 12% so that they can build muscle. In the natural habitat, Goldfish mainly feed on plants. They eat a fiber diet that includes algae, grasses and aquatic plants in the natural environment. Thankfully you do not have to sweat much to provide them with the equivalent nutritional needs because you can get it off the shelf! These processed food available at pet stores include:

Flake food

This is one of the commonly available goldfish foods, especially made for them and it consists of brine shrimp. It is easily eaten by Goldfish and helps in avoiding a particularly fatal sickness called the Air Bladder Disease.

Pellet food

This is also flake food with brine shrimp but it's packaged as a pellet. The only problem with pellets is that it sometimes swells in the goldfish's stomach and makes it lose its balance. This is what is the Air Bladder disease.

Frozen food

This includes live food that is frozen. You have an array to choose from as in frozen brine shrimp, daphnia, tubifex worms or mosquito larvae. This will come frozen in slabs from which you have to break off bit-by-bit and hand-feed your goldfish. You can also opt for Freeze-dried foods, which includes Krill, Pacific plankton, brine shrimp and bloodworms.

Homemade food

If you really want to make the food for your goldfish and you have the time you can do so. You will find that their favorites are lettuce and peas. Take any type of lettuce, which would be easy for the goldfish to chew on and digest. Wash and rinse the lettuce in warm water and just clip it inside the tank with a lettuce clip. Do not cook the lettuce. As for the peas, cook them till they are soft and refrigerate them. At feeding time, peel off the skin and mash a pea between your fingers and drop it in the tank. Do make sure the peas are soft or you could end up bloating your goldfish. Goldfish enjoy plant food and that's why you can see them happily nibbling away at Anacharis and Romaine lettuce or pieces of cucumber and zucchini which you should make sure to clip on to the tank with a suction cup clip

Live foods

The live foods that goldfish can safely eat include Daphnia, Brine Shrimp, Tubiflex worms, Meal worms, Wax worms and Blood worms.

Special treat for your goldfishYou can make a special "gel food" for your goldfish that's quite easy to do. This can be given to the goldfish along with the main staple as a once-in-a-while treat. Here's what you need will need: a packet of unflavored gelatin; an empty ice cube tray and a 2.5 oz jar of baby food in a vegetable flavor such as carrots, peas or green beans.

* Take ¼ cup cold water in a small saucepan and pour the contents of the packet of gelatin in the water and stir over low heat until the gelatin dissolves.

* Add ¾ cup water, stirring till it's well blended.

* Add the baby food and stir thoroughly.

* Now pour the mixture into an ice cube tray and let it cool for about half an hour.

* Refrigerate the mixture for a few hours till it solidifies.

When it's feeding time just pop out a cube, cut it into small strips and feed it to your goldfish! One tray is more than enough for two 4- to 5-inch goldfish for a week. Make sure you dump the leftovers after a week, as it's good to give them fresh stuff.

Whatever it is, you will find that your goldfish are not fussy eaters. They have a wide array of food to choose from and they can eat quite a lot, which you would need to regulate. You will need to remember that they are temperate fish that do not need a diet high in protein. Goldfish are classified as coldwater fish and, as a rule; do not need to eat a diet that is high in protein. What they need is a carbohydrate-rich diet with the adequate vitamins.

That is why the best option for Goldfish are the floating pellets or the flakes which are specially made for Goldfish and have all the necessary nutrients. Ask your goldfish dealer as well as other owners and decide on what is best for the goldfish.

Dane Stanton - www.goldfish-secrets.com

Dane Stanton is an expert on goldfish health care. To visit his website visit http://www.goldfish-secrets.com for more information on Goldfish care and other aquarium related topics.*Recommended*


MORE RESOURCES:

KBCI CBS 2

Ex-NFL player Vick allowed dogs to savage family pets: report
AFP - 5 hours ago
RICHMOND, Virginia (AFP) — Jailed ex-National Football League star Michael Vick allowed his fighting dogs to savage family pets, a federal government agency ...
Michael Vick thought watching dogs kill other dogs was funny Chicago Sun-Times
More details of Michael Vick's abuse of dogs revealed as he faces ... ESPN
USDA report details more involvement for Vick cbs4qc.com
FanHouse - The Associated Press
all 224 news articles


Mortgage meltdown results in pets going to pound
CNN - 19 hours ago
With foreclosures disrupting life, from the family house down to the dog house, and as Americans toil through a tough economic landscape, some of their pets ...
Pet of the Week: Calie Tampa Bay's 10
Humane Society of St Lucie County established fund to save special ... Fort Pierce Tribune
all 4 news articles


Homeless Pets Finding Families at Petland Stores Nationwide
MarketWatch - 15 hours ago
CHILLICOTHE, Ohio, Nov 21, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The results of Petland's Adopt-A-PetSM survey mean good news for homeless pets at Petland stores ...


San Francisco Chronicle

Would you choose your pet over your partner?
San Francisco Chronicle,  USA - 17 hours ago
In a study of 900 pet parents by BizRate Research, women said they had a deeper emotional connection with their pets than men did. ...


Ask Vet: Holidays can be stressful for pets
Knoxville News Sentinel, TN - 8 hours ago
However, our time of celebration can sometimes be stressful for our pets. Thanksgiving is the holiday with the highest travel rate; the highways and airways ...
A Recommended Sales and Use Tax Proposed by Governor ... MarketWatch
all 6 news articles


Soldier's home burns; pets saved (8:28 am)
Las Cruces Sun-News, NM - 10 hours ago
Collazo said his son was at school when the fire broke out, and the family's 20 pets -- including two ferrets, two dogs and several turtles, mice and fish ...


More Choosing Cremation for Pets
Hartford Courant, United States - 9 hours ago
A clipping of the pet's hair is optional. "If you lost a special member of your family, you would want a special fond farewell to them," says LeBoyer. ...


ABC News

Store Accused Of Selling 'Puppy Mill' Pets
WYFF, SC - Nov 20, 2008
GREENVILLE, SC -- A national pet store chain is under fire tonight accused of selling puppies that come from "puppy mills." The Humane Society of the United ...
Video: AP Top Stories AssociatedPress
Investigation reveals Petland Inc. is biggest retailer of puppy ... Examiner.com
Petland Pet Stores Linked to Inhumane Puppy Mills Associated Content
Consumer Affairs - Los Angeles Times
all 248 news articles


'First Dogs: American Presidents and Their Pets' Opens at the Newseum
MarketWatch - 22 hours ago
"First Dogs: American Presidents and Their Pets" features photographs and anecdotes about more than two dozen dogs and their owners, from George Washington ...
Newseum to Host Inaugural Special Opening MarketWatch
all 14 news articles


Straits Times

Presidential Pets
The Santa Barbara Independent, CA - 22 hours ago
Of those pets, 3 million-4 million are euthanized. If the Obamas decide to choose a shelter dog, it will send the right message to the country. ...
Video: Raw Video: Obama Girls in Washington AssociatedPress
The FABULOUS First PETS! Deccan Herald
Presidential Pooch Pick Offers Peek Into Policy Bloomberg
Tampa Bay Newspapers - Norwich Bulletin
all 309 news articles

Pets - Google News

home | site map
© 2006